Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Kristen Wright.
Oil prices are higher today, following the latest U.S. attacks against Iran.
U.S. Central Command says American forces hit about 140 Iranian targets on Saturday and dozens more yesterday. They included coastal radar sites, missile and drone capabilities and small boats. It followed more Iranian attacks on commercial shipping in the state of Hormuz. Appearers Hadeel Al-Shalci reports on market reaction.
The price of the benchmark global oil jumped more than 4% after markets opened that brought the barrel to 79 dollars, a 9% spike from its price before the U.S. Israeli war with Iran started in February.
“Roughly 20% of the world's oil supply passed through the key international waterway.”
Kepler, a data and analytics company that tracks global commodity and shipping markets said
that crossing through the straight of Hormuz dropped to 22 ships last week and almost 85%
dropped from the pre-war traffic. The status of the ceasefire talks is unknown. They were supposed to continue after the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Haminay, which ended last week. Hadeel Al-Shalci NPR News is done.
Congress returns to Washington from their July 4th recess today. The death of South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is a sudden major shift. Graham was elected to the Senate in 2002 after serving in the House. He was a close ally of President Trump, and known as a strong advocate in U.S. foreign policy.
“And Pierre's Claudia Rizalez reports that Senator had just gotten back from Ukraine.”
To start, he was chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, which will need to recalibrate their plans. And of course, he had this outsized role in foreign policy. Law makers in both chambers say they're now anxious to tackle a Russia sanctions bill that Graham in his last press conference on Friday said the White House had signed
off on, and he also said he was more optimistic than ever that they had found a formula to end Russia's war with Ukraine. The medical examiner says Graham likely died from a tear in his aorta. The red cross is declaring a national blood emergency setting a sharp drop in donations and Pierre's Rob stalling reports.
The red cross is declaring the emergency because donations have been falling since the end
of May, causing the national blood supply to drop by about 25 percent by the end of June.
Blood donations often decline this time of year because regular routines get disrupted by some retrieval and blood drives that places like schools and colleges go on hiatus. At the same time, demand for blood increases because of a spike in injuries from car crashes and more people participating in activities like biking, hiking and boating.
“And that's what's happening again this year.”
The red cross says there's a deficit of about 3,500 units of blood each week, Rob stalling and Pierre News. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Today is the second day of a two day break with no World Cup matches. The four teams in the semi-finals, France, Spain, Argentina and England are getting ready
to play Tuesday and Wednesday. But as cave-on and Tonya Hateri reports, there's no rest for the fans who either go home or adapt their travel plans. When they lose, the fans have to travel in this gigantic world cup. Johannes Brago will return home to Houston, satisfied even their Norway lost to England.
We've been twice in Kansas, twice in Dallas, Miami and now back to Atlanta, he says prices are abusive, but the love for Argentina and the team is everything. The middle wants to complete the Odyssey in New York at the final on Sunday. For NPR News, I'm cave-on and Tonya Hateri. Epidemiologists and case investigators working at an Ebola Treatment Center in the Democratic
Republic of Congo are on strike over unpaid salaries and bonuses. The outbreak there has killed more than 700 people. A housing affordability bill is now law without President Trump's signature. President had backed it but then changed his mind and said he wouldn't sign it. Unless lawmakers passed a stricter voting ID bill.
I'm Kristen Wright and this is NPR News from Washington. Support for NPR of all the protests in the summer of 2020 for a moment there. It was Utopia. One took a unique turn. This is the story of how violence came to occupy an anti-violence occupation in Seattle.
Listen to We Keep Us Safe, a new true crime series on the Embedded Podcast from NPR.
